In February, a week after returning from his second, stress-filled tour in Iraq, Marine Lt. Col. Richard M. Wersel Jr., 43, had a fatal heart attack while lifting weights in a base gymnasium at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Had the decorated Marine died under identical circumstances in Iraq, his widow, Vivianne, would be eligible for an additional $238,000 in death benefits to help raise their two children, ages 12 and 14.

But Congress earlier this year established the first two-tier military death benefits package. It also voted to pay the higher benefits retroactively for war zone deaths and combat training or hazardous duty deaths, back to Oct. 7, 2001, the start of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

The plan was backed by top Pentagon civilians but opposed by military leaders.

Denying the increases to survivors of 3,000 other service members who died on active duty since late 2001 has begun to raise morale-jarring issues for military leaders.

Vivianne Wersel said she has no doubt that multiple deployments of more than 30 months, including trips to Central and South America to train troops to fight drug traffickers, were the "silent bullet" that took her husband's life. Before his death, she said, Wersel had no history of heart disease, hypertension or cholesterol problems.

His final assignment was with Multi-National Force Iraq in Baghdad, serving as plans chief for the Civil Military Operations Directorate. Vivianne heard that Rich had worked many long days there, under tight deadlines, in a tense environment that included random mortar attacks.

Vivianne Wersel said she isn't angry with the Marine Corps, whose efforts to help her and the children have been "fantastic."

"Rich died doing what he loved most," she said. "Even going to Iraq the second time, if he had to do it over again, he would have gone. But don't deny my children benefits as if he wasn't a casualty of war."

The lump sum death gratuity is now $100,000 — up from $12,420 — for survivors of members who die in combat or while training for combat or performing hazardous duty.

On Sept. 1, maximum coverage under Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance also will climb to $400,000, up from $250,000. The government also will pay the SGLI premiums on $150,000 of that coverage for service members in combat zones.

Until the SGLI increases kick in, the law provides for a special death gratuity of $150,000, retroactive to Oct. 7, 2001, and, again, only for survivors of those who died in a combat zone or in training for combat.

So Vivianne Wersel's benefits won't change. She received a $12,420 death gratuity and $250,000 in SGLI. She is ineligible for the added $237,580.

Defense officials argue there is precedence for a two-tier death benefit. Under the federal Public Safety Officers' Benefits Program, police officers, firefighters and other safety officials receive a death benefit of $275,658 if killed by traumatic injury in the line of duty. Ironically, given Wersel's situation, Congress in 2003 extended eligibility for that payment to police and firefighters killed by stress-related heart attacks and strokes.